Prodigal Daughters
by Cotto
Summary: This is a 'catfight story', there's however, no: hair-pulling, slapping, or fisticuffs, it's just the after-effects of some Profoundly Dispicable Conduct (the only one who would like that sort-of behavior is the First Evil), this is one girl's return to her family after a fight. It is supposed to be similar to the parable with the gender of the returning child different. Enjoy.
1. An Uncomfortable Return Home

**Tillow- lesbians= prodigal daughters.**

**Buffy fanfiction by James Carmody**

**Pennames: Cotto, Thrawn, Krulos, Vantiri, Mollari.**

**Disclaimer: **Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, not me! I will accept no money for this, or any other kind of reward aside from the credit for this little fanfic story.

**Author's notes:** I named this story "lesbians=prodigal daughters" because that's what they are in my perspective, they're females who are in bad relationships (one category thereof). This story takes place during season 6 of Buffy after, just after, that is, Tabula Rasa, and is Tara's attempt to return home after her devastating breakup with Willow, how I think she'd tell her family what happened, and her response to being raped by her girlfriend.- Some people might think that I have a dislike of Willow… I don't, I love her the way a brother would, it just really would hurt what she does (the relationships she gets into and such.). This is the after-effects of a bad femslash encounter. I also believe Tara would be interested in the sciences. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1.) An uncomfortable return home.**

Tara was mad, mad at her ex-girlfriend, don't get me wrong; she still loved her, but it had just hurt so darn much- the fights and the, the, Tara didn't even want to _think_ about it! It forced itself to the fore of her mind: she'd been raped! By a woman! Her lesbian lover, Willow had wiped her memories of a fight the women had had, then they slept together… and Tara was totally enraged over this! _"How could she be so darn __stupid__?"_ Tara thought on the bus to her family's home in Colorado. _"Didn't she know I'd have to break-up with her if she did this?! How would __**she**__ feel if __I__ changed __her__ mind __without __**her**__ permission? To me, the mind is the most sacred place, the most private! That Fallen Woman! She Forced herself into MY MIND and re-arranged it to suit her ideas of the 'ideal girlfriend'- doesn't matter if I was happy with myself… what am I? Her __**slave**__?! Is this the way a relationship is to go?!"._ Then she considered her own beliefs, including religion, (all of them- as if she were an empress taking a census of the weapons she had before a fight for her life) _"I had such fun with her friends, they seemed to genuinely love me for me…" "__**Her friends**__" _Tara thought bitterly _"Do they even know what kind of a woman she is now? That they're living with a rapist?"_ The thought shocked her- her girlfriend, someone she loved dearly, a rapist?! She felt sick about this _"This isn't the way I am supposed to act… this isn't the way of wisdom, of love: Fighting constantly, anger, bitterness, disgust, those are a recipe for hatred! And if I remember my catechism courses- that is a poison for the soul- the very way iron is to a star!" "While Wiccans do not believe in a Devil, I have seen far too much evil in Sunnydale to discount the existence of an entity with those capacities, I believe Giles referred to a 'First Evil', maybe that's him- or it, as such… And if there's one being with those capacities,,, there're probably some beings with the same abilities that never went bad!- Similar to the way Josef Stalin went very bad, but Karl W. (John Paul 2) did not!- both men lived at approximately the same period of time, and both were undoubtedly very knowledgeable, but the first was exceedingly evil, the latter was really quite good."._

Willow was deeply upset with the loss of her loving relationship _"I was valedictorian at Sunnydale High graduation. So how come I cannot keep a friend?"._ She herself was trying to figure out where she'd gone wrong _"Granted I was completely outmatched by that 'evil beauty queen' or whatever she was, who went by the name of 'Glory'- I had to call on every resource I had to beat that cruel vixen, and still hurt myself, oh, it was a satisfying fight"_ Then she realized _"maybe that's how guys see a battle against a villain… I'll need to ask Xander or Oz about this later. I sure enjoyed fighting her for hurting Dawn, whom I love as a sister, but I nearly hemorrhaged in my brain!"_ then she continued thinking _"What do I have? I'm brilliant- my grades in school were second to none, I am kind- helping people is a real passion for me, I'm gentle, loving, loyal" _then she got to the one thing that hurt her _"but I'm also addicted to magic- no scratch that- sorcery! Oh Yahweh, what am I?" _she prayed _"No wonder she left me… sweet Tara"_ a tear rolled down her cheek- she realized that what had driven her lover away was the use of her 'psychic weapon' on her!- then the sex-act… then it clicked: she'd raped her! Willow really didn't want to admit that it had happened, but she really couldn't deny it- in her intellectual curiosities, she'd looked up the California Penal Code one day when she was bored, and the state of California clearly includes 'interfered consent' in the category of 'non-consent', and since the spell interfered with Tara's memory, it clearly interfered with her ability to consent! _"Therefore what I did __**was rape**__!"_ Willow realized to her horror, then she really started crying, Buffy heard her and asked "Will, what's wrong?" upon entering the room. Willow was in her bathrobe, sitting on the bed near the headboard and sobbing. "Oh Will, what's going on?" her best friend tried again. _'Do I tell her?'_ Willow asked herself _'Do I let her know what I did, to Tara, to my girlfriend? Will she ever forgive me? Will she kick me out of the house? And what of Xander? I regard him to be my brother now! Could he ever look at me again? Would he try to murder me? For committing rape? I might!'_ Willow thought, profoundly terrified and disgusted.

Some 10 to 15 hours later, after multiple rest-stops, Tara finally reached the MaClay residence, after going from city bus, to mall, to taxi, and finally home… _'Time to face the music.'_ she thought _'Last time I was here, my family and I got into quite a squabble, for over seven years my dad called me a demon, and the worst thing is that he got the rest of the family to think that of me too! Even Cousin Beth called me a 'disgusting demon', how could she? We're the same household- she and I, as close as any sisters!'_ Donny greeted her at the door "Hey dad, little sis is back!" he called overjoyed! Tara smiled, hurt, afraid, and bitter, but knowing that, as mean as Donny was in the past, she really doubted he'd use her the way her girlfriend had- or worse. "Hey, Donny! Yes, I'm back, is my room still available?" "I'll take your gear up there…" "Wow, Donny, you sure are a gentleman now, what changed?" "I'll fill you in later- we got your call, but I still am not clear on why you decided to leave that lifestyle all of a sudden, not that I am anything but overjoyed about it- you leaving a disordered lifestyle that is, but what happened?" Tara thought for a long moment then whispered "My lover raped me." on the way up stairs.

Donny was flabbergasted to say the least… That pixie-hair-styled little redhead raped his sister! In fact, so shocked was he that he stopped dead on the stairs, with his mouth gaping open. Tara couldn't help but find it sort of cute. Tara was a good four or five steps ahead of him when she turned around (though they had been at the same step when Tara had mentioned why she was back) "Donny, come on!" she smiled at him, a sisterly smile. "You're not the one who had hurt me" "But I…" Donny started to say, Tara motioned for him to stop "True, you had mental problems, anyone would, what with the loss of Mom, but" she sighed "let's just get my gear up to my room, OK?".

When Tara had explained her story to her: brother, cousin, and father, Donny asked Tara "Should we call the cops?" Tara responded with a question of her own "And tell them what, exactly? There was no damage, no drugs involved, it'll degenerate into a 'she said-she said' story- pure sensationalism! I don't want to wind up in the tabloids as a 'lesbian rape victim'… No, I just need time away from… _**her**_!" Tara said, disgusted! "But we've got to do something! That **evil**** woman** mustn't be allowed to away with raping my daughter!" said Mr. MaClay. "I've studied psychology, Dad, and, sick as it is, there's a tendency to perceive people like myself, (lesbians) as a form of entertainment… I Will Not Wind Up in the Tabloids with my picture and name associated with the term 'victim of lesbian rape'! We're Human Beings, for Crying Out Loud!" Tara practically shouted.


	2. Meeting an Old Friend

**Chapter 2.) Meeting an old friend again.**

Tara Maclay had slept rather soundly, but she was still upset over her girlfriend's treatment of her. She had, however, been awakened on and off due to nightmares of her rather nightmarish treatment by her lover… the alleged rape was gentle, not forceful, but the thought that she couldn't have truly consented to the sex was very upsetting, and the cause of her bad dreams. She didn't, however, remember any of her dreams when she awoke in the very early morning. After her father and brother had talked with her, and she with them, Donny and Mr. Maclay were enraged, but let the woman get some sleep for the night. When she awoke, she yawned, stretched, walked to the bathroom and combed her hair so it was straight and smooth _'pretty'_ she thought of it; and that made her somewhat happy. Tara had the attitude that could be described as "love is beautiful, whereas anger and fighting are ugly." and to have to fight with her friends really made her upset.

She checked the thermometer, and it read in the low 40s Fahrenheit, the time was about 5:45am and it enabled her to watch the sunrise over the plains and woods, something that made the woman happy- that was always beautiful in her eyes. She was also delighted that her family was so supportive of her in this crisis… it just upset her again that it **took** a crisis to get them to treat her right! _'Why can't my family treat me right without some fight outside of the home?'_ the young woman thought with tears welling up behind her eyes, angry again. _'none of my other friends have this problem., Oh Guardian Spirit, why me?'_ she prayed, hurt again. She really was a loving Dame actually., in all but having been declared so by royalty.

At about 5:54 am, she was wearing her flannel shirt, woolen skirt, thick stockings, favorite hiking shoes, and scarf, and had a rather large mug of hot chocolate with milk in her hand, when she heard a voice say "Hello, Tara, slept well?" "Dad?" she turned. "Man, you're looking exactly like your mother did when we first met, not the clothes; those are yours, she was always into formal dresses, by the way, but the overall looks." her father appraised. Tara was a bit creeped out. "Dad, you know I am gay, right?" she asked. "You're still my child, and that's how it's going to be forever, Tara." Mr. Maclay said to reassure his child. It was then that she realized that he was complementing her on her looks: he wouldn't have fallen in love with her mother if he didn't see her mom as beautiful., and that cheered her up. "Thanks Dad, if you don't mind, I'd like to sit in the cool of the early morning and just try to work through some of what's happened to me recently." "Not a problem at all." Mr. Maclay responded with a look of compassion to his suffering offspring.

She walked out and sat on the porch-swing, crossed her lower legs, started rocking in the chair, and sat in the cold morning air, trying to come to grips with what had happened to her recently. A fellow she remembered from some few years ago came by on a bicycle, and as the cold grey light of pre-dawn hours started to lift, she recognized him: a friend of hers from school days- elementary school days, named Matthew Hart. She even went so far as to consider him a potential boyfriend, and loved him as a friend; but love had betrayed her recently, and she didn't know if she could trust her heart's desires again. What had broken up their relationship was her need to get away from the abusive home life of her childhood and teen years, she had not heard from or seen him since, and wondered if he'd be angry with her for this. She did find the cold air quite pleasant to endure, and it was quite comfortable for the woman.

As Matthew approached, she saw he was wearing black jeans, a dark flannel shirt (looked like black plaid), and gloves, with hiking boots, his face had a neatly trimmed beard for a 20 something young man (he was about 22), as well as a distinguished mustache. "Tara?" he asked as he approached "Tara Maclay?" he said again, delighted. "What brings you here? Last I heard from you, you were leaving for a place in California, was it? I think you said it was called "Sunny Dale". Why are you back here? What happened?" "Got in a fight, needed time to sort things out." she responded, then spilled her story about what had happened, after, of course, making it very clear to Matthew that **she** felt that **she should** be the one to decide when to do what about what had happened. "and the worst part isn't that my girlfriend practically forced me, it's that she didn't even **try** to change her ways!" Tara said, upset to tears. _'If I wasn't gay, he'd be a marriage candidate!'_ she thought, trying to cheer herself up as the tears overtook her while he held her to his shoulder and she sobbed in anger and frustration over her horrible treatment. _'he really is quite charming.'_ the woman thought.

Mr. Maclay happened to look out the front window about then and saw his gay daughter in the arms of a young man, it at first upset him that anybody would embrace his child without his permission, but then, he realized she was crying again, and that the young man, Matthew Hart was comforting her., that made the 'medicine go down smoother' as he'd say. (not that his child was crying, but that somebody was comforting her.) _'She must __**really**__ be upset for this to happen!'_ the eldest Maclay male thought to himself, then he was happier, because Matthew guided Tara back to the bench that she'd been seated on and, sitting next to her at her left, he placed an arm around her as a friend, and she quietly sipped her hot chocolate, and cheering up, watched the sunrise. Their conversation wandered from this topic to that, covering 'everything under the sun' as the saying goes… and it **did** make the young lesbian feel better to get her mind off of what had happened to her.


End file.
